LOCAL AND GENERAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 59, 3 April 1909, Page 2

LOCAL AND GENERAL.

At the Whiteley Methodist choir practice last night it was practically decided to reproduce the cantata "Christ and Ilis Soldiers" at ail early date. The Clifton County Council had about eight or nine tenders yesterday fur four roiulwork contracts, it took two hours in which to accept two tenders and decline the other two. The meeting of the Clifton Council is of a. conversational order, in which the right of almost unlimited reply is freely availed of. The s.s. Buteshire arrived oil' Waitara' on Tuesday evening to load frozen produce for the Home market. She was i still iu the oiling yesterday, and, owing l tu the she had been unable! to establish communication with the 1 shore. The sea must moderate eon-1 siderably before lightering can be commenced. A New Plymouth gentleman who has just returned from a visit to Wellington upon business involving matters connected with finance, told a Daily News reporter that there was an easier tone in the money market of the Empire City. Ife says that whilst as yet there is no very great alteration, tlie indications are very promising, particularly with regard to Taranaki securities.

As the outsome of the suggestion of the New Plymouth delegates to the recent Recliabiti's' Conference at Masterton, si sub-district is to be formed "n this coast from Wangnnui to New Plymoulli inclusive, and a convention will be held on Easter Monday at llawera (o make arrangements. The Unity Ten!, 1.0.1?., New Plymouth, will be represented by Bro. W. Bigelow, C.11., and Hro. E. ChattertoTi, secretary. Good progress is being made with the erecting of the soldiers' monument on Marsland Hill, tho contractor hoping to have tho work finished in seven or eight days. The base, of concrete and New Plymouth stone, crowned with Coromandel granite, is finished, unti the monument if self, which is made of Italian marble, is being placed in position. The ligure surmounting the whole—the replica of a trooper, holding a Title —is a line piece of statuary, and stands nearly seven feet high. The monument, when completed, will be almost 30ft. in height. The annual meeting of the Avenue Koad Card Club was held on Thursday niglit. Mr. A. Mason presided over a fairly large attendance. The balancesheet showed a profit of .CI 17s fid on, the year's working. The following oil'ieers were elected:—Patron. Mr. \V. (I. Malone; president, Mr. W, Sole; vicepresidents. Messrs \Y. Cliff, K. Sole, .). Avery, \Y. .1. Penn, K. Elliot, and i\ lliehards fall re-elected); selection committee: Euchre. "Messrs. A. Marsh, T. Prentice and M p Paterson: Messrs. Blewman, A. Hampton, and A. Mason. The election of a captain and delegate was left over until next Wednesday evening. Mr. W. Richards was re-elected secretary.

Tin- iliiTieuliics encountered in administering the Clifton county are enormous as compared with the neighbouring counties, whose main roads uiv all metalled and whose by-road* are in the cam of road hoards Again. the numerous surveyed and sparsely settled townships in that area have multiplied tlu: number of ratepayers. many of tlio owners of town sections being Hable for only the minimum rate of one shilling. This fact, in conjunction with the native rating. Mokiuj estate, and other problem?, ensures for the rate-collector a worrying job. Despite the.se drawbacks, however. "Mr. IT, E. Yanglian, the county clerk, has this year collected within CIOO of the collectable rate revenue,j and i< now Inking vigorous steps to enforce payment of such of the remainder a« can he marked "good." | Just arrived, at Doeb-illV Devon st'-eel Central. Kpw Plymouth, an iti rbi.it of Allan's famous cent*' bnoU al* C. *nd ,T. Clarke's «.upevb-r hi dies' boot and bJu>m. Tn stock, a large flssnrtnvn o* tf»'- Indies', penis l , and chihlm* colonial Inota and ahooa by roHMOi makers All thn above nr« offered f the public at prices that can't be beaten. vt.

A contributor to a Ncrtlu'iji paper supplies what lie states tu be an infallible means of destroying the ragwoil pest, lie slates: Common salt i* its deally enemy. The way to apply it is to cut the plait off level with tin- ground (not to dig the root out), i\ml apply the salt to tho cut part liberally. Tin; salt tlms sinks into tho neck ami line librous roots of the plant and destroys Us vitality. I have tried many ways of dealing with it, but the above is the only elective one. Digging or hoeing it out only makes it worse.

Under a heading of "A Grim Sign of the Times,' the Labour leader of January 29th publishes the following "On Tuesday last a scene was witnessed in London which constitutes a grim comment 011 the condition of labour in the wealthy metropolis. A Wormwood street firm of publishers advertised for two warehousemen. By 9 o'clock in the morning tho premises were besieged by 3000 applicants for these posts. The crowd filled the street, stopping all traffic, and eventually a strong force of police was, summoned to disperse them." In a leaderette on the loss of the steamer Clan Itanald, near Adelaide, the Australasian Keview of Review says : " It is not by any means an exaggeration to say that tho coasts of Australia and Xew Zealand are strewn with wrecks that happened while their captains were under the influence of alcohol. The risks to the travelling public, both by land and iby sea, are too great to allow men to I have cuarge of public conveyances if they cannot abstain. Some railway companies in America forbid their employees to take alcohol, and a breach of tun rule brings instant dismissal. Tho shipping companies -honld insist upon officers being total abstainers. It is simply on a line with the precaution that makes companies demand a mental attainment and a physical fitness. It is all the more necessary because at sea passengers arc so absolutely helpless to do anything for their own safety." It is not generally known that the "Westralian Government has made one experiment in State control in regard to licensing mutters. .Mr. Clifton, a warden from East Murchison, now on a visit to Dunedin, speaking of it, says:— "At Uwalior there is a State hotel. It was ejvetetl a year or two back at a capital cost of iViOUO. Last year it showed a profit of .C3UOO. The manager is pai I a good salary, and the State house, is dillerentiated from the other hotels by its rigid observance of closing time (11 p.m.) and of the law in regant to serving drunken men. The other hotelkcepers are strongly opposed to it. They sometimes collect their own •drunks/ cart them oil' to the State hotel, and deposit them in front of its doors as sample products. The profits! made by the State, hotel may seem large, but it must be remembered that "prinks are often Is on the goldfields. In Uwalior the scale is:—Long beers and whiskies Is, medium and small beers Gd." There must be some reason (says the Lyttelton Tim-ee) why able-bodied men will not go into the country for work, and the iarmers may find that reason with very little searching. What married mau accustomed to earning Site a week in the city will take a job, casual or permanent, at 22s (3d a week and "found" under tile conditions that rule on the average farm? The wages are inadequate to commence with; and then tho conditions of li'fe for a farm laborer arc sometimes painfully squalid. There are many good employers in the country, fanners who house their hands well, feed them well, and give them opportunities for recreation. But there arc 100 many who expect their hands to work from "uiiwn to dark, to sleep in a dirty barn, and to put up with, the roughest of food. If the conditions of labor in the country were mafic approximately equal to those ruling in the cities the farmers would find plenty of capable men seeking employment. The average farmer docs a hard day's work himself, and argues that what is good enough for him in the way of living and recreation should be good enough for the hired laborer.

During the second tftek iu February Niagara Falls presented a remarkable sight, being icebound. Only a mere trickle of water flowed into the gorge below. There are only two known occasions 011 which a similar state of things has existed—in March, 1848, and March, 1903. The phenomena, says the London Telegraph, was attributed to heavy winds driving back the waters of Lake line, and to the accumulation of an enormous ice-barrier on Goat Island, which divides the nver just ks it plunges towards the Falls. " The icebond Falls scintillate in the sun, and over tlicm are splendid rainbows, uniting the American and Canadian shores. It is a picture of amazing beauty, so that more people are .visiting the falls now than in summer. Huge crowds have flocked to tile ice for the excitement ut reaching the little islands that are inaccessible at other times. The population of the city of Niagara Fulls, or many of tliem, arc unable to sleep because' the roar of the great waters for years has been their lullaby." The Maii's correspondent says that in the gorge below huge hummocks of ice forty and sixty feet high wore piled up tile face of the Falls. A phenomenal and grandiose spectacle was expected when the icewalls burst.

Sir Robert Stout, in an interview with a representative of the .Melbourne Argus, made some interesting comments on Australian affairs. "As an outsider," said Sir llobert Stout, "1 have always taken a great interest in the Commonwealth because of the federal spirit in its constitution. We bad a kind of federal constitution in New Zealand until 187 U. The danger J thought L saw in the Australian Constitution was that there might arise a demand for unitary government, as opposed to federal government. That is to say, State rights might be lessened or even abolished. People might ask,' Why cannot one Government do for Australia?' I still think the possibility of unification is the great danger before Australian Federalism. In some respects I think Australia lias not quite realised what Federalism really means. It means specialisation in government, just the same as specialisation in industry, which lias been found to be the most economical way of carrying tm manufactures. The aim should" not merely be to get what is termed good government. The true aim should b<» to interest every citizen in the government of the country. If you hud om> government, far removed from the people, es- 1 tablishcd in such a vast continent as 1 Australia, you would have no intelligent political action. Some people think that j! the State Legislatures were abolished i they would have cheaper government. I i doubt ifc very much, i believe that the nearer you bring government tu the people the more deeply you will interest the people in it, and the nearer >oii will. approach to cheap and effective govern* ] went;' 1

The public withdrawal by Mr T. Bonay»e of his h Government stroke '*' allegations regarding Addington workshops, and the Hon. E. Jenkinson's part in the episode is dealt with by the railway servants' official journal this month. It slates:—"Hardly had the Addington Commission of Inquiry opened when the allegations made against the men were publicly withdrawn by Mr T. Konayne, General Manager of Railways, the author of that circular which' we in our last issue appropriately, as it turned out, styled a boomerang. Certainly the rash and unfounded allegations have recoiled with a vengeance upon the General Manager. He makes absolutely no attempt to support any single statement in the circular, and merely pleads that they were practically the statements of the 'expert engineer,' who lias now cOtue into the light, and is none other than an exboilermaker, translated to that dignified pedestal of rest, the Legislative Council. .If there was a grain of truth in the allegations of loafing, the interfering methods of such an individual could be at once blamed, for there is nothing so damaging to discipline or efficiency as the belief that only favouritism tells with the management. The Hon. J. E. Jcakinson, with kindly condescension. we are sure, made 'favourable reports' to the Chief Mechanical Engineer regarding certain Addington employees, lie is a legislator, and his opportunity for criticism or praise is on the floor of the Legislative Council, where all men may judge of the weight of bis argument. His interest in the Addington men may be genuine, buf he adopted n most extraordinary method of demonstrating it." Two lovers witli one self-same cold, Two chests with but one wheeze. Two rose-red nones blending in One grand impassioned sneeze. Two souls witli but one single thought. One Aspiration pure—"This cold we Ye caught -we'll net at naught By "Woods' Gn'at Peppermint Cure. 13

The Melbourne live just opened out tlnir first instalment 0 f v/iiiipr goods, comprising hovs' and men's raincoats, colonial and imported blankets, boys' and men's riding and walking oilskin*, men's cnin'as coats. warm knitted socks from X.Z. mills, TCaiapoi knitted pants.. I'oslyn sliivis uml panty, Mosgiel flannels. and a lingo shipment of the nobbiest caps evt'r displayed in our windows.—Ailvt.